Met Maestro Marks Return in Small Steps

By

Jennifer Maloney

Feb. 26, 2013 4:59 p.m. ET

Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine, who has been sidelined for two years by a spinal injury, is walking again, though he still plans to use a motorized wheelchair in May when makes his comeback performance at Carnegie Hall.

ENLARGE

James Levine in October 2010 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Associated Press

"A year ago, I could barely move my legs, let alone walk," he said.

He now walks with the help of a walker and his physical therapists, though only for short distances.

After four decades at the helm of the Met orchestra and two difficult years away, the 69-year-old said Monday he was looking forward to next season and hoping that in his "older years," his conducting will reach new depths of insight.

"Sometimes, as you get older, your perception is redistributed in a constructive way," he said. "I hope to get us on the most constructive, productive, positive track I can."

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Mr. Levine had been suffering from back pain for years before he fell in August 2011 while on vacation in Vermont. For the two seasons before that, he had conducted from a chair, through excruciating pain—the result of back problems including spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spine that puts pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.

Ironically, shortly before the tumble that injured his spinal cord, the conductor underwent surgeries that for the first time in years made him pain-free.

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Even as he continues to rebuild his strength, Mr. Levine is enjoying the results of those surgeries. When he rolls onto a customized podium with built-in elevator for his wheelchair, he said he would lift the baton with no pain. "I haven't taken medication for pain in months," he said.

That's welcome news for the Met, which in 2011 scrambled to find replacements for Mr. Levine, asking conductor Fabio Luisi to cancel other obligations and take on most of Mr. Levine's scheduled performances.

The younger conductor was appointed principal conductor and remains in that role.

But Mr. Luisi, who also leads the Zurich Opera, has said that he may not be able to parachute in next time—especially if his schedule has him outside New York—noting the Met can only call in a favor of that magnitude from other opera companies once.

Mr. Levine is scheduled to conduct three productions next season: Verdi's "Falstaff;" Mozart's "Così fan tutte;" and "Wozzeck" by 20th-century Austrian composer Alban Berg. He also will conduct three more concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Met said.

Should Mr. Levine be unable to conduct on any given night, an assistant conductor would be ready to step in—a standard protocol for all Met performances, regardless of the maestro, said general manager Peter Gelb.

Mr. Levine also has a form of Parkinsonism, related to Parkinson's disease, that, along with the medication used to treat it, has contributed to shaking in his left hand. His doctors said the symptoms were aggravated by his back pain, and aren't expected to worsen or to affect his conducting.

Since last fall, Mr. Levine has resumed many of his duties, now coming to the opera house between three and five days a week to coach young singers, hear auditions and meet with orchestra members and administrators. He will begin rehearsing with the orchestra in April.

ENLARGE

Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine in 2011. He will return to the Met foraconcert this May
Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

After easing back into conducting with a limited schedule next season, Mr. Levine said he hopes to be able to take on more productions—perhaps five or six—the following season. Mr. Gelb concurred.

"I didn't want to in any way write him off, and I'm glad we didn't," Mr. Gelb said. "He seems to have a lot of upper body strength…He is coming back and hopefully he will physically be up to the challenge."

Mr. Levine said that during his time away, he turned to old recordings, studied scores and listened to the performances he was missing.

As in every season that the Met, he said, his assessment of the renowned orchestra's playing varied from performance to performance, ranging from" terrific" to "less terrific."

He said he was ready to get back to work with them.

The maestro said he took inspiration from great musicians who, in their later years, showed even deeper mastery and musicianship. He cited singers such as Jennie Tourel, a mezzo-soprano who continued to perform into her 70s, and Jan Peerce, a tenor who "was still selling out Carnegie Hall when he was nearly 80."

"His breath was shorter," Mr. Levine said, "but his insight was still increasing."

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